Israel warns on 'security' as Gaza truce talks resume

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel warned Sunday it would not countenance any long-term truce deal that did not answer its security needs as Gaza ceasefire talks were set to resume in Cairo.

Egyptian-brokered indirect negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians are taking place during a five-day lull in the fighting which is due to expire at midnight on Monday.

The aim is to broker a long-term arrangement to halt over a month of bloody fighting which erupted on July 8 and has so far claimed 1,980 Palestinians lives and 67 on the Israeli side.

But as the Israeli team landed in Cairo, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they would not agree to any proposal which did not offer a clear answer to Israel's security needs.

"The Israeli delegation in Cairo is acting with a very clear mandate to stand firmly on Israel's security needs," said Netanyahu.

"Only if there is a clear answer to Israel's security needs, only then will we agree to reach an understanding."

Despite the looming deadline, talks were only expected to resume during the evening when the full Palestinian team reached Cairo, officials said.

Both teams had returned home for three-days of consultations with their respective political masters.

Cairo airport sources said the Israeli delegation arrived mid-morning from Tel Aviv, and a Palestinian delegation from Ramallah flew in around the same time via Amman.

Hamas' exiled deputy leader Mousa Abu Marzouq arrived from Doha, but a four-strong team from Gaza was expected in the evening following a road trip of up to eight hours.

In Gaza, although residents enjoyed a weekend free of the deadly fighting, they were now facing other battles including the struggle to cope with a chronic water shortage.

"There's no water here and the toilets are very dirty, this is no kind of life," said Feriel al-Zaaneen who is sheltering at a UN school and hasn't been able to have a shower in over a month.

Muntaha al-Kafarna, a mother of nine who has been living in a small tent in the school courtyard did manage to shower at a nearby hospital, but says her family is really suffering from the water shortage.

"My sons have caught lice and nits because they can't shower here," she said.

"I wish a missile would hit us, me and my children. Dying is better than this life."

'Basic human rights'

In Ramallah, President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated his commitment to the Egyptian proposal.

"Our goal is to stop fighting and we are committed to the Egyptian initiative and nothing else," he said.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the Palestinians would not back down from their demands, central to which is a lifting of Israel's eight-year blockade.

"There is no way back from this. All these demands are basic human rights that do not need this battle or these negotiations," Abu Zuhri told AFP.

"The only way to have security is for Palestinians to feel it first and have the blockade lifted," he said.

But Netanyahu warned that Hamas, which he said had suffered a major military blow, would not walk away from the talks with any political success.

"If Hamas thinks it will make up for its military losses with a political achievement, it is wrong," Netanyuhu said.

Abu Zuhri responded in a statement, saying: "Netanyahu's comments about an alleged victory are just for the media in an attempt to evade wrath from Israelis and to cover for his failure."

"It's enough for Netanyahu that hundreds of his soldiers were either killed, injured, or captured, and that the resistance's rockets succeeded in striking the depths of Israel and blockading its airspace."

With their demands seemingly irreconcilable, the Egyptian mediators have their work cut out to hammer out a deal that each side can present as some kind of achievement.

Palestinian delegation head Azzam al-Ahmad said he was quietly optimistic that an agreement could be reached.

"We have high hopes of reaching an agreement very soon, before the end of the truce, and perhaps even, very quickly, for a permanent ceasefire," he told AFP.

2-stage proposal

Talks are expected to resume on the basis of an Egyptian proposal, seen by AFP, which calls for a lasting ceasefire beyond Monday midnight, and new talks on the thorniest issues, including demands for a seaport and airport in Gaza, which will begin in a month's time.

Negotiations about handing over the remains of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails would also be discussed in a month.

The European Union said a durable ceasefire must be accompanied by lifting closures on Gaza and called on "all terrorist groups" in the territory to disarm.

Israel has so far refused to countenance any major reconstruction effort without full demilitarization.